Letter-file.



No. 655,372. Patented Au 7, I900. E. ROCKWELL.

LETTER FILE.

(Application filed Nov. 29, 1897.)

(N0 liodel.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IRVIN E. ROCKWELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LETTER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,372, dated. Ahgiise 7, 1906.

Application filed November 29, 1897. Serial No. 660,078. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IRVIN E. ROCKWELL, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Files, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to letter-files, and more particularly to that class of files consisting of a drawer or drawers adapted to be slid longitudinally for insertion into or removal from a suitable case or cabinet, and whereof one side wall is omitted and the compressor is pivoted to the remaining side wall, as contradistinguished from that class wherein the rear wall is omitted and the compressor is pivoted to the front wall. I

It is the object of the present invention to provide simple and efficient means for hinging the compressor to the side wall of the drawer in such a manner that said side wall will present a smooth, uninterrupted, and uniform edge to facilitate the movement of the drawer within the case or cabinet, the manner of mounting said compressor and its actuating-springs being such that all the parts are in full view and will be readily accessible for inspection and repair.

To these ends my invention consists in certain novel features, which I will now proceed to describe and will then particularly point out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a construction embody ing my invention, the same being shown applied to an open-sided tray or drawer of a file-cabinet; and Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view of the same, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrow.

In the said drawings, represents a suitable case, which consists in a drawer or tray adapted to be contained within a filing-cabinet and comprising a bottom 11, front and rear walls 12 and 13, and a side wall 14, one of the side walls being omitted to give access to the file 15, which fits within the tray and is secured therein by a detachable device 16 of any approved character. comprises a bail 17, composed of a cross-bar 18 and parallel radial arms 19, all preferably constructed of a single piece of wire bent to the desired shape and having at the inner ends of the radial arms 19 outwardly-bent The compressor.

portions 20, extending in opposite directions in the same line and forming the pivots upon which the compressor may be turned. By means of these pivots the compressoris mounted in suitable bearings on the side 14 of the tray or drawer on the inner face thereof below the top, and for this purpose I prefer to employ Ushaped sleeves 21, by means of which the pivots 20 are held against the inner face of the side wall 14 of the tray or drawer, said sleeves being secured to said side wall by means of apertured lugs 22 and screws 23, so as to be readily detachable. Each pivotal portion 20 is extended outward beyond its bearing-sleeve 21 and bent at a right angle to form a crank portion 24 and then again at a right angle to form a portion 25 parallel to but offset fromthe body of the pivot. These portions 25 extend over the front and rear walls of the drawer or tray, which are cut away, as shown at 26, to accommodate said portions 25. Mounted on the upper edge of the front and rear walls of the drawer or tray and extending over the crank-arms 25 of the compressor are springs 27, which are sunk below the level of the upper edge of the drawer or tray in the cut-away portions 26 thereof and which are preferably plain fiat leaf-springs secured at one end by means of screws 28, their other or free ends extending, respectively, over the crank-arms 25 of the compressor.

It will be seen that when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Fig. 2 the springs 27 bear upon the crankarms and force these latter downward, thereby also forcing the compressor downward, so that its cross-bar 18 bears upon the file and its contents and holds said file and the letters and papers contained therein compactly and firmly compressed'into a minimum space. When, however, it is desired to have access to the file, the compressor may be swung up into the position shown in dotted-lines in Fig. 2, when the springs will tend to move the compressor in the opposite direction or, in other words, hold the same open and pre vent it from falling, and thereby interfering with the examination or handling of the file or its contents.

It Will be particularly noted that the de Vice is extremely simple in construction, the

compressor proper or bail, with its pivots and crank-arms, being preferably made of a single piece of wire bent to the desired shape, and the only other parts of the compressor being the bearing sleeves and springs, which are secured by screws and are so located that they may be readily applied and removed and are at all times accessible for inspection and repair and not liable to become clogged in their action. Moreover, these parts are so located that when the compressor is swung.

the combination, of a drawer or tray having a single side wall and front and back end walls united therewith, each end wall having a portion adjacent to the side wall rabbeted or cut away at its top, leaf-springs secured in and overlying the rabbeted portions of the front and back Walls, detachable sleeve-bearings secured on the inner surface of the side Wall below the top thereof and having their sleeve-sockets arranged to extend at right angles to said springs, and a compressor-bail composed of a single rod or wire having pintle portions j ournaled in said sleeve-bearings, and cranked terminal portions each consisting of a returned crank-arm portion, which extends parallel with and close to the inner surface of the adjacent end wall, and an outtnrned end which extends parallel with said pintle portions and projects into the rabbet of the end wall beneath the leaf-spring therein, substantially as described.

IRVIN E. ROCKWELL. Witnesses:

FREDERICK C. GOODW'IN, IRVINE MILLER. 

